Some Cal State Bakersfield students say Rey Cuesta reminds them of a caring uncle. Others say he's more like a helpful older brother.

Twenty-year-old business major Rolando Felix takes the comparison one step further.

"He tries to solve any personal problems we have," Felix says, grinning.

"Like Mama."

Cuesta can only groan and shrug his shoulders when he hears such comments. That's because there's a grain of truth in all of them.

After 17 years as coordinator of the federally financed Student Achievement, Academic and Retention program at CSUB, Cuesta has established himself as the point man for students who have no college tradition in their families.

"Anything that will light that spark in them to continue in school," Cuesta said. "That's the energy we want."

Many of the program's 450 participants are first-generation college students -- young pioneers who are exploring worlds no one in their family has explored before. But STAAR also serves students from low-income families and those with physical and learning disabilities.

Cuesta coordinates assistance for students in math, reading and writing, financial aid, employment and career planning. The program also sponsors social activities and field trips designed to help students become intimately involved in university life and familiar with opportunities beyond the campus.

"It's scary being on campus alone," said 20-year-old Sergio Perez, a second-year student at CSUB and the first in his family to enter the world of higher education.

"There's a lot of pressure on you," he said. "But this shows you can raise yourself up no matter what your economic status."

Like other students in the program, Perez said Cuesta gave him the feeling that he is part of an extended family.

"It's like you're welcomed with open arms," the mathematics major said. "You can go somewhere and not be alone on a Friday night."

There's bowling night, ice cream socials, pizza parties and other functions that may appear to the casual observer to have little to do with academic achievement or success. There's a dance group, a musical group, fund-raising activities and more.

But Cuesta said he discovered years ago that social activity and the networking that comes with it helps young students survive the rigors of university life.

"It amazes me how much students learn to give," Cuesta said. "I just try to keep them active and involved -- and doing well in their classes."

Cuesta has seen students hit the wall, academically, and teeter on the edge of failure. That's when a spate of tutoring sessions, a well-placed workshop or a STAAR course on "Making it in College" can turn students around.

"They say, 'My God, I can do this!'" Cuesta said. "They come back with this glow in their eyes. That's why I love this job."

Earlier this week, a visitor to the campus found four students packed into Cuesta's tiny shoebox of an office. Colleagues of the popular administrator say that's the usual state of affairs -- a daily meeting of the minds where students pepper Cuesta with questions on myriad topics.

His job is finding the answers.

Nineteen-year-old Amanda Villanueva says she plans to get her degree at CSUB, then eventually go on to Stanford Law School.

Cuesta, she said, has helped make that dream of achievement and success seem not just possible, but inevitable.

"After you get to know him," she said, "after you find out what to expect, he's like your good uncle."